Chirizo and Blackpudding Scotch Egg

Introduction: Chirizo and Blackpudding Scotch Egg

The humble scotch egg. Once a great British delicacy (Scotish to be precise) now sadly the tiny cold shrivelled offering at petrol stations across the land. If you don't know, it is basically a boiled egg made infinitly better by being wrapped in sausage meat, covered in breadcrumbs and deep fried.

This is my take. I have not reinvented the wheel here just put some rims on it. I am sure someone else has done exactly the same but I just wanted to give something back to this website that has given me so much entertainment and caused me to now be the owner of a soldering iron, a dremmel and a whole host of doodads I have dismantled and never quiet figured out how to put back together. Anyway cheers guys for all the years I have enjoyed your blend of genius and lunacy, its about time I kicked in something.

p.s: This took ages to type because I melted the left hand side of my keyboard under a heatlamp at work the other day. Sorry for any repeated letters and random capitalisation, I have done my best to check for it.

Step 1: The Eggy Bit

Bring a pan of lightly salted water to a vigourous boil. Gently lower in your egg/eggs. If you use a spoon you can stop little cracks from appearing. Leave for 6 1/2 minutes for the perfect runny yolk in the final product. Adjust time to taste. I know 6 1/2 mins seems like a long time but trust me much experimentation has gone in. You need a runny yolk but a robust enough white to take a little handling later on. For a duck egg, I would maybe try 8 1/2. For ostrich eggs, you are on your own.

After 6 1/2 mins run cold water into the pan and keep running until the egg is fully cooled, you are stopping it cooking from residual heat.

When cold, carefully remove the shell. This takes a little practice but a gentle drop on the side of a surface can crack the shell then pick off bit by bit. There is often a small airpocket in between the shell and white this can be a good way in.

Place in fridge while you move onto the meaty bit.

Step 2: The Meaty Bit

You will need:

Chirizo sausages (not the cured kind but the type you cook, the raw ones).

Sweat off some onions and leaks in a little oil. Use half the weight of your meats. So if you added 250g pudding and 250g chirizo then add 125g of your sweated down chirizo.

Chuck in a healthy amount of chopped parsley, or dont chop it if you blending. Mix well.

Take a little of the mix and fry. Taste and adjust seasoning. Note that chirizo and black pudding are often heavily seasoned so it is down to personal taste. I even like to increase the spice a little with some chopped up birdseye but then I am a little bit odd.

Your mixture should be sticky. If it is a little dry add some egg. Wet, then a little more black pudding should do, or breadcrumbs. The stage will teach you more about the consistancy. I have been a little vauge with quantities for the simple reason that the blackpudding and chirizo vary depending on the producer.

note here that your mixture should be alot redder than mine on the left. This is because this photo was taken of a straight pork and apple mix that my friend wanted instead of chirizo (I have added more photos after posting on the kind advice of oner of my commenters). However the process and consistancy is exactly the same.

Okay next step

Step 3: The Tricky Bit (not Really Just a Little Practice)

Lay a piece of clingfilm (celophane the same thing across the pond?) on your work surface. Maybe a square about 20cm by 20cm. Once you do the first one you can judge later yourself.

Get some of your meaty mix and roll it out onto the clingfilm you are aiming for a layer of just under a centimeter thickness. Too thin and it is not the meaty feast you deserve and too thick it won't cook through. You are about to wrap an egg in this so think sensibly how much meat it will take to wrap it.

Flour your egg. Just lightly should do, it will help the meat stick.

Place your egg in the centre fo your rolled out mix. Now the clever bit, lift the clingfilm, edge by edge, craddling the egg in a meaty embrace. As you pull the sides up squeeze of the top and force remove any excess. You want the egg to have that uniform 1cm coating of the meat. Now your egg is surrounded enveloped in porcine goodness, perform any patches you need to.

Put your meat wrapped egg in the fridge.

Hzar, next stage.

Step 4: The Bready Bit

You have two choices here I will explain both:

Find your nearest deli, or waitrose. Locate the lazy, posh people aisle and snuffle through the flavoured olive oils and tea bagged bouquet garni to get to your Panko bredcrumbs. Buy them, then return home with a distinctly lighter wallet and a slightly dirty and used feeling.

Or alternatively, get an old loaf of bread and coarsley grate it. Admire your pile. You 1 - 0 The Man.

Step 5: Here We Are, Moments Away From Victory

Fully submerge in deep fat fryer or a deep pan of oil. If not fully submerged move around to ensure even cook. 180 degrees centigrade is perfect (If you are working in farenheit then you do the mathS)

When you the breadcrumbs are golden the ball should be cooked through, if you are a little worried then just leave for a bit in a hot oven. The frying should take about 5 mins. Pat off excess fat with a kitchen towel. Serve with piccalli, English mustard, or whatever you feel like. Hell, its yours now.

There we go, first instructable out (in fact it is my second, only noticed after posting that I did one ages ago!)

Comments

Brilliant! (thought about typing egg-celent, but decided against it). They look delicious, and the yolk looks cooked perfectly - I always struggle with keeping them runny. How rich are these? And is it possible to bake rather than fry these? That's how I've always done mine...

Just been making my own scotch eggs as I have an abundance, today I was using my own Quail eggs (obvioulsy the quails own the eggs but the quail belong to me, I don't mean I lay my own quail eggs, that would be wierd). 100-120 seconds in boiling water is all they take, then into cold or eveniced water. I also recommend using eggs which aren't super fresh (sounds a bit wierd, but the shells are really difficult to get off when laid that day). I also coat the boiled eggs in seasoned flour before wrapping in meat, then again after they're coated in sausage meat. This helps the meat and breadcrumbs stick better also helps finishing wth a really crispy coating. I also make my own Panko style crumbs, sometimes to be lazy I use the oven to dry bread and then the grating attachement on my blender. It's also a great way to use up left over garlic bread. Doing Quail scotch eggs take 3.5-4 mins at 180 in a deep fat fryer.

One last thing. The photo of the scotch egg was one I took of my first attempt. Rather than pre-made chirizo, I spiced sausage meat with my own paprika and what not. Because it has not been blended for long and I did not use enough paprika you will notice it is not as red as it should be. Ones I have done since with bought in chirizo (as instructed in the piece) give a much deeper red colour so dont be alarmed.